Grateful Dead

....I just consumed two gummies. I'll fill in the details later.

Nice lil show

Anyone here attend that one?

Flashback to 1973... I'm 15... like Crow, gifted with an enormous bag of unsmokeable produce, baked it into brownie mix (think about the name, Betty Crocker...) and I get the munchies and so consume half the pan while my two bros share the rest. We're in Vermont, hitchhiking to a trailhead. Car pulls over, my two bros get in up front, then pack the three backpacks and me into the hatchback area. Drive of unknown duration ensues, then the driver pulls over to let us out. They pull the backpacks out and, left slumped over, basically unconscious, is my 15-yr-old long-haired dead ass, just laying there. All I heard was "Say, is that g-g-guy gonna b-b-b-e a-l-l-l-r-r-r-ight??!!" My buddies just laughed and literally dragged my body over the hatchback rim onto the ground, where I gathered myself as the driver peeled out. Thing was, we put on our backpacks and climbed a mountain. No biggie! Ah, the resiliency of youth.

Edibles. Everybody has an edibles story, right? Mine involves a hippie grower named Zemo who gifted me a grocery bag of shake trimmings, which turned out to be practically unsmokeable, and were therefore crumbled into a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix, which turned out to be surprisingly tasty, given their rather unappetizing hue, and surprisingly potent. Suffice to say the day got weird, and I had to resort to counting railroad ties, a la Cowboy Neal, for about four hours in order to get my mind back in my body. Nearly died of cottonmouth. Ah, good times.

I remember buying an early copy of Live at Leeds, and somewhere in the deluxe packaging (that poster of Townsend was on my wall for years) there was a notice that the scratchy sounds were not a defect, but were put on the record intentionally as part of the whole gimmick of making the “official” album seem like one of the bootlegs the hipsters were exchanging in those days. Now, my turntable in those days was made out of rocks and it had a bird beak for a stylus, so didn’t really notice. But still seems like a weird thing to do.

Then again, there weren’t really no rules whatsomever in ‘60s rock y roll. A lot of bands didn’t even play on their studio records, so nobody was going to sweat a few studio overdubs on a supposedly “live” recording. Lots of bands (even some good ones) issued “live” albums that were nothing but studio recordings with audience screams dubbed on. And lots of live albums (even some good ones) were just issued because the band owed the record company another album and didn’t have any new songs. S&R, by contrast, had a bunch of new tunes, at least, and it wasn’t really being sold as a “live” record anyway—at least not in the way Live Dead was. So who cared about the mysterious piano at the end of Wharf Rat?

I love this concept of Mt. Rushmore shows! But my knowledge is pretty much limited to the official releases, so I can’t drop any science on yall. I agree that at least one show from Europe 72 could be carved in stone, and at least one show from May 77 should probably there. There’d have to be a show from 69. Beyond that? The only show I would insist on is Veneta. That is just a sacred document AFAIC. Here’s the Dead, playing for free, for friends, and playing their hearts out for three-plus hours in the blistering sun, and it doesn’t get much better.

Done. Sent.

Deadvikes, Thank you so much for the offfer, that is extremely kind of you. I think I'll pass for now, I have pretty much what I want. I do have a Grateful Dead item you might be interested in, pm me your email address and I'll fill you in. Again, Thank you so much.

Check your PM.

I saw that and instantly thought of the Python skit Archaeology Today. The next list will list 12 things, then the next 16, finally the award going to the man who had the record Jerry recorded in an arcade booth when he was seven! For years rumor had it was China Cat Sunflower. But after closer inspection it was realized that song was two decades away. Then proof positive appeared, the record itself!!! It was Jerry doing "A - Your Adorable" a popular hit of the day by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae, Gordon of course went on to star in Oklahoma and Jo went on to sing about Spiders & Snakes. The owner would only play a recording of the record, not wanting to overplay the vinyl, the recording I'm told is adorable, but tracking fast.

1. Fillmore West, 2. Europe 72, 3. Winterland 73, 4. GTSTL, 5. PNW 73/74, 6. July 1978, 7. June 1976, 8. Golden Road, Beyond Description, & So many Roads. My favorites are the first three, they get repeat listens all the time. I'm. really looking forward to the next one, hopefully it's 67 to 74.

My friend gave me a bunch more CDs last week

85, 86, 87, 88

I dont anticipate listening to the 87 and 88 stuff too much, but the 85 and 86...

86 is an oddball year for the GD, fo' sho'